


Beauty That Rots Quicker Than Compassion

by VillainsAlwaysWin



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (Comics), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: ALL THE ROGUES, Alternate Earth, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Barry & Iris are villains, Caitlin Snow is Killer Frost, F/M, Joe is not as observant as he really should be, Joe knows nothing about his children's involvement with criminals, Kinda, M/M, Off-screen Character Death, Songfic, Wally West/random male Rogue, fic meant to be more violent than it is, get with the program Joe, pre-legends, seriously, the flash season 2, they are all dating/dated Rogues, which is Barry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-03
Updated: 2016-08-07
Packaged: 2018-07-29 03:44:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7668823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VillainsAlwaysWin/pseuds/VillainsAlwaysWin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[Mob/Criminal - Killerwave Week 1 Day 1]</p><p>Thanks to Barry and Cisco reopening a breach, Caitlin is stuck in another earth where metas are hunted down and she looks exactly like the murderess Killer Frost. </p><p>With no way to get back without the help of the Rogue's Gallery, she has to pretend to be her doppelganger, fool her fiance (Mick Rory, seriously?), and let go of a few morals.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

Cisco and Barry had the best of intentions when they’d done it, and she was going to keep reminding herself of that. It wasn’t like they had known what was going to happen when they’d reopened the breach. It was just that Wally had come into his own speed force powers and since Jessie had gone through the same, they just wanted to see if the same had happened to her. It was dangerous, but they were insistent.

But the breaches were still a mystery, and though Cisco had been working on his vibing ability, there was only an eight-five percent chance that the right breach would open. And of course because it wasn’t foolproof, they’d opened a breach to the _wrong_ Earth. And that Earth pulled Caitlin right in.

Right into an empty Star Labs, the equipment scattered around like it had been right after the Particle Accelerator had gone off, a coat of dust on the familiar workspace. A picture of her deceased husband hung in one of the hallways, right next to one of Doctor Wells, pictures she’d never seen before. It was like no one had been in there for years.

She blinked slowly. Maybe if she closed her eyes long enough, when they opened, Cisco and Barry would have reopened the breach and she’d be back on her own Earth. She opened her eyes just as slowly, but the cortex hadn’t changed.

“Barry?” she called out into the silence. The only sound was her heels clacking against the floors, echoing eerily through the room. “Is anyone here? Joe? Cisco?”

She paused by the desk, wiping a finger through the dust on the computer she’d just been using that morning to look up the newest metahuman threat. She was starting to get the same feeling of wariness that she’d gotten in that cell on Earth-2.

As if right on cue, she heard something suspiciously like a voice from down the hall, though she couldn’t quite make out the words. She hurried out of the cortex and down the long hall – down a flight of stairs – to a very, very familiar room of Star Labs. That feeling doubled when she opened the door to see vast cells of the Pipeline.

On her own Earth, she was used to seeing them empty. Ever since Ferris Air and the new Metahuman unit in Iron Heights, they hadn’t dared use the Pipeline as a cage for long periods of time. Sure, they’d kept Eobard in one for a few days and Barry during the fight with Zoom, but that was all Caitlin had allowed.

What Eobard Thawne had done down there – kept the metas locked up and half-starved – had been horrible and all three had felt terrible for letting it happen underneath their noses. But what she had seen almost two years ago had nothing on what was in front of her eyes right now.

Lines and lines of cells, all filled with metas she didn’t even _recognize,_ their voices so quiet that she wasn’t sure how she had even heard them from upstairs. She couldn’t even see the familiar patting of the cells she remembered, that doubled as cots but at least it was a place to sleep. Now she could see some metas just curled up at the bottom of their cells – and that had never been her favorite word choice since Eobard but _now_ – like they had no strength to even stand.

One of her hands strayed up to cover her mouth unconsciously as she gasped, and took a step backwards in shock.

“Can I help you, miss?” A male voice rang out gently from behind her and she turned to see two men she could only describe as guards. The one who had spoken she couldn’t recall, but she had a feeling he worked with Iris. The other one was Hartley Rathaway, a sight she could decide if was welcome or horrifying. “The prison is closed. Did you get separated from your group?”

Her group?

She opened her mouth, shaky hand falling back to her side, but no words came out. She glanced back at the cells. Now that she looked at the pathways inside, she could make out more guards walking like they were on patrol. Were these metahumans?

“Come with me,” Hartley’s words pulled her from her stupor and she turned back to the two waiting men. “I can show you back upstairs and to one of the shuttle buses. Its fine if you did get separated.” He chuckled and she couldn’t seem to follow the motion. “People do tend to get so passionate about the metas that they stray from their groups.”

She could only bring herself to nod. She needed to get away from the Pipeline, no matter if it was by herself or with the assistance of her once-coworker turned villain and Rogue. The other guard just waved at them as Hartley grabbed her arm and pulled her none to gently away from the metahuman prison.

When they were a distance away and heading up the stairs back towards the cortex, Hartley stopped walking. She blinked curiously at him, and he sighed, running his hands through a ponytail she couldn’t ever remember him having on her own earth – and was he blond? That was new. Maybe he wasn’t so condescending on this earth either. If he was blonde, anything could happen.

“Let me guess,” he muttered, “you’re not from here, you came through a breach. You’re obviously not the Frost I know.”

Caitlin perked up at his words. “Yes!” she exclaimed. “I came through accidentally. We were trying to get to another earth, and I got pulled through. What – Hartley, what was that?”

“That,” he explained, “was the bane of every meta’s existence and the reason I’m here. Wait a few minutes and I’ll return with a decent explanation. For now, all you need to know is that where we just came from is not a place you want to end up again.”

At least she could agree with that.

Before she could ask him anymore questions, like maybe why the metas were locked in the cages, an alarm she’d never heard before blared and Hartley took off back down the hall to the Pipeline. When she heard more footsteps coming her way, she darted back into the empty cortex and behind the desk. Sure enough, just like she had thought, more guards were running in the same direction of Hartley.

The only difference was that the moment they passed the opening of the cortex, the footsteps stopped and all she could hear was the notes of a flute. The music was hypnotizing, luring her to move away from the desk and around the corner towards it. She shook her head, trying to lose the haze that was quickly filling it.

The music stopped abruptly, and the moment she looked up in concern, Hartley reappeared, a group of metas from the pipeline behind him. Some were able to walk, sticking close to the man, and carrying those who looked like they might fall over in death at any minute, and one had gripped the familiar green cape like a lifeline. Hartley didn’t seem to mind, much less notice.

“Well?” he demanded impatiently. “Do you want answers or not?”

She quickly jumped up and followed after the trail, trying to keep her eyes off the flute in his hands and the guards she’d hid from face down on the hard floor. She should feel bad for the pain Hartley had caused them, but all she felt was anger, the same _burning anger s_ he’d felt a year ago, and she couldn’t resist kicking one of the guards at the entrance as they headed to a black van.

xx 

The last place she expected for the van to stop, a rough stop where she was practically thrown from the passenger seat, was in front of Saints & Sinners. No, it wasn’t the same bar the Rogues had frequented on her earth. This one was a polished masterpiece amidst ruined buildings and torn up roads, the two stores she remembered being beside the bar burnt and marked with the initials RD surrounded with lightning bolts.

“You all need to get inside the building. They’ve already been alerted that we’re here, so you can just go through the front door. The Captain will tell you the rules inside, and if you choose to comply, you’ll be seeing me again soon.” Hartley turned around in his seat to face all the metas. “There are already a few sectors here. They can help you find a place to sleep.”

The crowd slowly moved from the van, dispersing in waves of two or three before finally the vehicle was empty save for Hartley and Caitlin. “Now I can explain,” he said, finally turning to her. “Regardless of how metahumans are treated on your earth, on this one they are far from celebrated.”

“On my earth, most are criminals,” she added helpfully.

Hartley smirked. “They were here too. I suppose you have the Rogues there as well,” he replied. “About two years ago, Eobard Thawne was awarded a high-up spot on Central’s council for bringing down one of the vigilantes, the Flash. A year ago, after an incident at a local hospital, he decided metas like Flash were dangerous and he wanted them locked up.”

Caitlin’s eyes widened. “Wait, Eobard won? That – Eddie Thawne died so he wouldn’t come back!” she protested. “We have a meta prison unit at Iron Heights.”

He interrupted her. “We have a meta prison too – and you just saw it. Star Labs was converted into one of the worst penitentiaries in North America, and the only residents? Metas. They’re starved, ridiculed, and forced to wear power-hindering bracelets. The people of Central that weren’t metas didn’t want to fight against it, so they just let it happen, and eventually they started to believe the lies Eobard was telling them.”

“How many years has it been since the particle accelerator went off here? I saw the amount of dust – it was only two years ago for us.”

“It’s been ten years,” he answered, before looking out the window at a few figures standing by the door of the former bar. “We should probably get inside, which – you’re looking at the Rogues’ Den, the only meta safehouse in Central. You’re welcome to stay as long as it takes for you to get back, but try to keep a low profile. Most know you as Killer Frost, and only the Rogues know about alternate earths, so it’s best you stay out of sight.”

She could only nod and get out of the van after him. When they’d reached the front door, she’d quickly seen just who those figures were. Just like Hartley, they were familiar Rogues, and she couldn’t keep herself from being relieved at seeing faces she actually knew, even if they were criminals on her earth. From what she’d seen so far, they were the lesser of the evils.

Lisa Snart, Mark Mardon and Shawna Baez, two of which had been in the pipelines on her earth.

“Is that Frost?” Mardon asked when Hartley stopped in front of the small group. “I thought she went down to Keystone a month ago?” At the weight of his gaze, she almost felt like stepping behind Hartley to keep him from looking at her.

“She did.” Hartley replied, his voice a bit strained. “This is Caitlin Snow – from another earth. She was at the Labs today. I’m going to go introduce her to Len after all the newbies get settled in. How far is he?”

Lisa scanned Caitlin’s figure before rolling her eyes. “Obviously it’s not Frost, I’ve never seen her dress so modestly,” she scoffed. “Lenny’s about halfway through, but this little bunch isn’t as conceding as the others were. There’s about five that don’t want to learn how to work their abilities, all they want is a safe haven, and Lenny’s having a hella time trying to talk them down.”

Caitlin wasn’t exactly sure what to make with the new information. Leonard Snart – Captain Cold – was clearly still the leader of the Rogues, apparently a multiversal consistency, but this Central was practically run by Eobard Thawne? And from what she was hearing was these criminals were practically the superheroes here, keeping the metas from dying by Thawne’s hand and even helping them with control. It was a vastly different image from what she was used to seeing.

“You might as well just drag him away from the masses.” Shawna said with a shrug. She was the only one who wasn’t looking at Caitlin suspiciously. If anything, she looked calm. “I’m sure James could handle a few metas for one night. This is more important anyway, isn’t it?” Then she turned to Caitlin with narrowed eyes. “You aren’t injured, are you? The last time Hartley brought someone else from the Labs, they were near death.”

Another familiar voice joined the rest, one Caitlin was surprised to hear so relaxed with the present company. Iris West. “Barry wasn’t near death, he was dead,” the woman added in. “That’s a good idea though. Len’s been stressed lately, and to see this one,” she looked pointedly at Caitlin with a grin she was only used to seeing on Captain Cold’s face, “would give him something else to obsess about.”

She opened her mouth before she fully heard Iris’s words. Barry. She had said Barry was _dead_. “Barry Allen?” she gasped.

Iris looked solemnly over at her, and it was then Caitlin noticed her appearance. Long hair cut almost as short as Shawna’s, with dark glasses perched on her head and a black suit not unlike Barry’s Flash one. She was dressed almost like Zoom had been, but the cowl was pulled down and gloves resting on her belt. “Yes, Barry Allen,” Iris answered with a sad smile. “It’s been a few months, but – he was a big part of the Rogues’ Den. He died a hero – was he the Flash on your earth?”

Caitlin nodded. “I think what’s different between our earths is that Thawne defeated Barry here, but he was killed on my earth. On my earth, we were heroes and the metas were people with powers. Criminals,” she looked away from the group, “like the Rogues were put in jail because of their actions, not because of powers they received from an accident.”

Hartley nudged Caitlin’s arm and she looked over at him. “James took over for Len – we should get in there and talk to him before he disappears. Come on, Snow,” he said and walked through the door into the Den. She tried not to make eye contact with Mardon or Lisa Snart, and quickly followed him inside.

James Jesse, the man she saw in the front of the large crowd of metas, was not who she thought he was when Shawna had first mentioned him. She was thinking the older Trickster that had caused them so much trouble in the last two years. This man was much younger, probably a few years older than Caitlin herself, and was dressed in a bright costume, a rubber chicken hanging from his belt. This was not a man she knew.

Hartley didn’t seem surprised like she was. When James looked away from the crowd to give him a blindingly bright smile and a “Hey, Pipes!”, the man just glared at him and led Caitlin farther through the building to where she remembered the pool tables to be. The Trickster just pouted from behind them and went back to his speech, dramatic hand motions with every word.

When Caitlin raised an eyebrow at the Piper, his only explanation was, “He’s new, not originally from Central, and deep in his closet.”

That was when Leonard Snart saw them. He was leaning against the back wall with a bottle in his hand, clad in a short sleeve blue suit and looking decades younger than he did on her earth. And if she was watching correctly, in his other hand was a small flurry of snowflakes. Impossible unless – unless he was a meta. He smirked when he saw them.

“I heard you on the comms,” he said. “Ice cold reception over there. Some are with us; some would rather move on to Keystone.”

“It’s no better in Keystone!” Hartley sneered. “We’re the only safe house in the Gem Cities. If they leave, it’s a return ticket to hell. James can charm them all he likes, he’s damn good at it, but not everyone’ll stay.”

“Shame,” Leonard agreed, and Caitlin wasn’t sure if she was on another earth or another _universe_ in itself. “Now is there a reason you’re back so soon, Frost? I thought you were going to ice Thawne all on your own – and the man is still kicking.”

Caitlin interjected before Hartley could. “I’m not Killer Frost,” she explained. “I’m from another earth. Barry Allen and Cisco Ramon were trying to open a breach, and they opened the wrong one. I’m not supposed to be here – and Hartley said the Rogues were the only ones who knew of other earths? Do you know how to send me back?”

His face fell at the mention of Barry. “It shouldn’t be too difficult to send you to another earth. The problem will be getting the time to set it up,” he replied. “Lise and Hart have been working on a way to open breaches, preferably to move the metas through or to dump Eobard’s dead body into.”

“What do you mean getting the time?” she asked desperately. “I have to get back as soon as possible!”

Leonard shrugged, and the snowflakes in his hands changed to form a lightning bolt like the one of Barry’s suit – and on Iris’s if she remembered correctly. Something had happened there, and she had a feeling she knew exactly what it was, but there wasn’t exactly time to try and figure it out.

“Miss Snow,” he continued, his voice taking on the dramatic drawl of his Captain Cold persona, and she scowled. It was a sure sign she wouldn’t like his answer. “There is a limited window to get the rest of the metas out of Star Labs, and getting you back to your earth will take all of my Rogues help, and we can’t spare a single person for the next sector. It will be at least two weeks until we can attempt to send you back. Call me coldhearted, but you aren’t the main concern.”

An idea formed in her head, and she matched his smirk. “How many more sectors do you have to get here?”

“Five more,” Iris answered for him, coming around from a side door and latching on to his free arm. Lisa joined her, but chose instead to grab the bottle from her brother’s hand and downed the rest of it. Caitlin watched with a sympathetic wince, but the woman barely looked fazed. A testimony to the stress they must be feeling.

“I might be from another earth,” Caitlin continued, “but Star Labs still looks the same. You’ve only been to the pipeline. I can show you another way in, and you can get more people out. It won’t take nearly as much time, and then I can get back to my earth.”

“You’re willing to steal some metas with a bunch of criminals?” Lisa asked with a sly smile.

Caitlin thought back to the prison she’d seen not even two hours ago, and she felt the same burst of anger she had when she’d kicked that guard. She wasn’t a criminal, she didn’t know how to break into a prison much less out of it, and she didn’t really want to learn. But – that was cruelty and it had caused Barry, maybe not her Barry but a version of him, had caused him to die.

“I’m willing to _free_ metas if it means it will get me back home and keep people safe,” she corrected, staring straight at Leonard. “On my earth, Barry sees the good in you. At least one version, even if it’s not on my earth, needs to prove him right.”

xx 

The problem with helping the Rogues was that Leonard Snart was a perfectionist. Every little detail had to be perfect, had to go off without a hitch. The last thing they wanted was to get caught, and he’d told her the one time he hadn’t planned for long enough, Cisco Ramon had been taken.

Cisco – he was one of the metas still locked in in pipeline, apparently in the farthest sector, and it strengthened her resolve even more. She was not leaving without her friend, and to do that, they would have to break all the other metas out. It worked with Snart’s plan.

And in this plan of his, she couldn’t be seen as any different from Killer Frost, so the first thing Lisa Snart did when Caitlin woke that next morning was drag her from the couch and downstairs to the room that functioned as Hartley’s lab for a few _upgrades_ as Lisa had called it.

It had the same setup as Cisco’s lab on her earth, just in a different building, but in this one she could see where the two had shared. Cisco’s side was riddled with posters and a whiteboard full of equations she could barely keep up with. Hartley’s side was pristine, and his cape was hanging from a hook in the corner, and that flute rested below on a shelf. There was an entire bookcase dedicated to inventions she didn’t even recognize.

Hartley greeted them by spinning the chair, looking her up and down with a disapproving look and said, “We’re going to turn plain Caitlin Snow into Killer Frost – welcome to your latest upgrade, Cait.” He gestured to his desk and her eyes followed the motion.

On that desk lay the same outfit Cisco had described Killer Frost on earth-2 wearing, and next to it, large metal bracelets that looked eerily similar to the power-inhibiting ones the metas she’d arrived with had been wearing.

“No.”

Hartley stood up with a sigh. “Caitlin, you said you wanted to help with this. If you want to help, you have to look like your doppelganger, and you have to act like her. Otherwise, you can say no, and just wait the two plus weeks before we can send you back,” he replied.

She frowned. The ice white hair of Killer Frost she could deal with, and the clothes would make her extremely uncomfortable, but she could handle a few hours in them. The problem was acting like the other woman. She’d never saw her in action, not since Zoom had killed her, but Cisco had told her stories. Heart as cold as her namesake, words dripping with threats or a purr – that wasn’t Caitlin. She wasn’t sure she had it in her to convince the guards successfully.

“Once you’re ready,” Hartley added after a moment, “we’re going to try this out on Heatwave. If he believes you, you’ll be –”

“Golden,” Lisa finished with a purr. “Absolutely golden. Get dressed, _Frost,_ and let’s get this show on the ice.” She threw in a wink for good measure.

If it was a multiversal consistency that Leonard Snart led the Rogues, it was another one that both Snarts loved their puns. In the span of not even a full twenty-four hours on this earth, that fact was obvious. It was enough to drive a girl insane, and if Hartley started, she might just take her chances finding her own way back.

With a sigh, she grabbed the outfit from Hartley’s outstretched hands, ignoring the two’s matching triumphant grins, and darted back down the hall to a bathroom. It only took a minute to switch outfits, but she immediately felt uncomfortable. The pants were as tight as Barry’s suit, and the shirt, well, she wasn’t even going there.

The bracelets snapped into place easily, and at least those felt natural – grounding. They were cold on her bare arms, the metal pressing hard against her skin. There were no buttons like she had been expecting, and she gave her wrist an experimental flick.

Caitlin jumped back when ice struck the wall in front of her, coating a small area with a glittering white. _Well, s_ he thought, _that’s how these work._

Hartley grinned when she walked back into the lab, stumbling in the too-high heels. “Well, you do look the part,” and Lisa nodded in agreement. “Now you just have to speak like Frost – and learn to walk. That’s pathetic, Caitlin.”

She looked at him with a frown, unimpressed, and tried to imitate the same drawl she’d heard from her earth-2 doppelganger. “I’ve always _hated_ the name Caitlin. So unflattering, so – _weak_. I like the sound of _Killer Frost_.” For effects, she moved her hand slightly, the shirt grazing the metal of the bracelet, and sparks of ice shot out. They coated the shelf underneath Hartley’s flute. “It’s much more _me_ , don’t you think?”

“Oh yeah,” Lisa said with a twinkling laugh, “I’ll get Mick.” She disappeared out the door, and Caitlin watched her leave, before turning back to Hartley.

He shrugged. “If you can convince Mick, you can convince everyone else,” he added, and turned back to his desk and the papers scattered on top of it. “Don’t screw up like you always do.”

 _There_ was the condescending Hartley Rathaway she was used to. Was it strange to say she might have even missed it? A nice Pied Piper made her feel like she was out of her league – though she couldn’t really say much, considering she was dressing up as her evil doppelganger just so she could be part of a prison break.

And weren’t _those_ words she never thought she would have to say, much less ever relay back to Barry and Cisco when she got home.

“Why is it so important that I convince the resident arsonist that I’m Killer Frost?” she demanded after a moment of waiting for Lisa to return. “Is this some backwards earth where Mick Rory is more than just Captain Cold’s pyromaniac partner?”

Hartley scoffed immediately, “No, there hasn’t been any role reversal. Thank science, that would be the weirdest universe ever. He might not be as dumb as he looks, but he’s not as smart as the boss.”

“Then why is this necessary?”

Another voice joined them, not Lisa or Mick, and she couldn’t quite place it until she turned around.  It was Iris again – and she was never going to get used to her being a Rogue – and she explained, “Because on this earth, Killer Frost is Rory’s fiancée.”

Caitlin stared at her in silence.

“I take it you two aren’t together on your earth?” Iris asked with a chuckle. It sounded so much like _Caitlin’s_ Iris, she had to shake her head out of memories. “Well, here, everyone looks out for each other. There’s no _hero_ versus _villain_ thing anymore, so there weren’t any reasons for Frost and Mick not to start dating.”

She answered faintly, “He strapped me to a bomb.”

“Oh, yeah, I remember that.” Iris smiled. “You hated each other for a while there, but then Barry and Leonard starting dating and you were forced to talk.”

“I thought –”

“Me and Len? It was complicated,” Iris finished before Caitlin could. “They started dating, hanging around the house, and then the thing with Eobard happened. Barry was killed, and Leonard comforted me.”

Hartley scoffed again, not turning around from his desk. “Yes, and I had to fork over money to _Cisquito_ because the three of them couldn’t get their acts together before Allen was out of the picture. Complicated? It was pathetic, that’s what it was.”

Iris slapped Hartley’s shoulder with a glare. “And _which_ one of us is sleeping with an unavailable man?”

“You, clearly,” he replied and rolled his eyes.

Lisa stuck her head in the doorway, rolling her eyes at the argument in front of her, and then motioned for Caitlin to follow her back into the stairwell. She stumbled on the heels as she moved past Iris and Hartley, who didn’t even seem to notice her leaving the room. As Caitlin caught up to Lisa, the younger Snart whispered in her ear, “Just act like a colder version of yourself,” and left her standing there by herself.

Mick was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, leaning against the railing like he fit right in with the dark wood railing. She could almost believe that if she didn’t know he was more apt to burn it than to look at it. He looked up when she was halfway down the stairs.

“Back already, doll?”

Caitlin took a deep breath, and when she exhaled, her eyes snapped back open again. “Heard there was another prison break,” she said with a low hum, “I’ll have more of a chance finding Eobard there. Keystone was full of nothing but cold leads.”

He looked up at her, finally, and looked down her figure slowly – more appreciatively than anything, and Caitlin was surprised not to feel the disgust that came with being objectified like that. He pulled her into a chaste kiss, lips barely touching and his fingers trailed across her stomach before resting on her legs and when he pulled away, she was perched on the railing.

…maybe there was an advantage to that strength after all, she thought, but she’d need a few more test kisses before she could make up her mind about those skills. If he kissed the way he looked at fire, she was in trouble.

“Glad you’re back, babe.” he said with a smirk. “You can see Piper’s modifications in action.”

She raised an eyebrow and drawled, “For your gun?”

“Yeah,” and he leaned in, his hands hot on her thighs, “Larger radius, like Lenny’s new cold field, an’ now it burns _hotter._ It’s gorgeous.”

“ _Mm_ , I love it when you’re all smart,” she purred and tried not to think too hard about how the words were flowing so easily out of her mouth, “But I thought _I_ was the gorgeous one in your life.” She put her hands on top of his callused ones, and with a slight flick, a thin sheet of ice covered their joined hands.

He smirked down at her and replied, “Fire can’t hold a candle to you, sweetheart.”

 _And_ she was really starting to like the pet names. She’d missed that from when Ronnie was still alive, the first time at least. It was nice.

Lisa cleared her throat from above them, and when Caitlin looked up, she looked positively devious. “Save the PDA you two. Lenny’s got a plan ready, and you know how impatient my brother can get when we’re late. He’s got important news. Come on, Mickey.”

She winked at Caitlin, and Caitlin faltered. They were going to reveal the plan, obviously, but she must have done good at convincing Mick if they were going to reveal to the rest of the Rogues that there was a doppelganger here and her part in the plan. She wasn’t sure if she should take it as a compliment, or if it was bad if she could pass as Killer Frost. But, being herself, she would overthink it so much she’d miss half of the meeting.

He cursed under her breath, Caitlin just barely catching a few words about how much crap he was going to give Leonard after the meeting, but she just laughed and slid off the staircase. The ice evaporated from their hands, and she let go quickly.

“Come on hotshot,” she said with a large grin. “I think you’ll want to hear this.”


	2. Chapter Two

She was stuck working with Hartley and Iris for the heist, and it wasn’t until they were in yet another black van with Wally West at the wheel – seriously? Was Joe a Rogue too, or was he just oblivious to all of his kids being involved with criminals? – that Mick finally brought up the fact that she wasn’t his fiancée.

“So, on another earth you’re a bonafide hero, Snow?” he drawled.

She didn’t have to turn around in her seat to look at him, she’d been stuck in the back beside him. Iris, with a smirk, had happily claimed the passenger seat and in her own words, “all is fair in the name of love, war and awkward conversations.”

She was _indeed_ Barry’s sister, foster or not, obvious meddling aside.

“I _work_ with bonafide heroes actually,” she corrected. “Cisco hasn’t gone on the field yet, but we have two speedsters and Firestorm.” Wally turned around to look at her curiously, the car not slowing speed – he was definitely still a street racer on this earth too – and Iris snapped at him to focus. Caitlin tried not to laugh.

“And I’m a criminal still?”

She sighed. They’d been over this multiple times. “Serial arsonist, thief, Heatwave and one-half of Barry’s favorite nemesis duo,” she answered. “Wally had just come into his powers a week or so ago, and Iris was a reporter – which, Iris, I’d love to hear the story of how you’re now, well, whatever you are now.”

Iris didn’t turn around in her seat, but Caitlin could see her fingers playing nervously with the sleeves of the suit. “Well,” she said with a cough, “Barry was dead, and we didn’t want to just forget him in the chaos of the fighting. My dad kept trying to keep me out of the fights, and after not even telling me Barry was the Flash until he was dead, I got tired of being a liability. So I,” she looked proud instead of the shame Caitlin expected to see on her face, “I stole the suit and had Hartley make some modifications.”

“And so you just showed up in the suit?”

“Kind of?” Iris tried. “There’s some pretty sweet shock technology wired in, and Hartley harnessed some of Mardon’s lightning to give the whole ‘Flash effect’ in the tri-polymer. He based it off of some villain Cisco saw in one of his vibes, from another earth I think? I didn’t tell anyone until we found out Barry was helping the Rogues break metas out.”

Wally leaned over again, earning a smack from Iris that he ignored. “It was hilarious how mad Joe was,” he laughed, “His sweet daughter – a villain.”

“Hey!” she protested. “He was fine with it after they started messing with Star Labs and kicked us out. It was just a minor silent treatment – he gave me much worse after he found out I was dating Eddie a few years back.”

And that reminded Caitlin – “Speaking of,” she asked quietly. “What happened to your versions of Eddie and Ronnie? I’ve seen a few glimpses of Firestorm, but you have Jax too.”

Mick reached across the seat, where she had slid as far away from him as possible, and put his arm around her shoulders. She leaned in to his touch almost instinctively, and squeezed his free hand so hard ice flew from the cuff and coated the empty seat between them.

“Wally, eyes on the road! You’re going to kill us, seriously!” Iris snapped first, and then answered, “Eddie was killed by Eobard three years ago, hand right through his chest and everything, because he was going to kill himself to erase Eobard from existence. Ronnie – well, I didn’t know him too well, but I think he was killed at Star Labs during a breakout.”

“The same one that got Cisco locked up,” Wally added helpfully. “He was trying to get Ronnie’s body back to the van, and that’s when they got him. Hart wouldn’t let us stay to help, he made me drive straight back to the Den.”

Caitlin’s heart dropped. She’d finally dealt with the fact that Ronnie was dead, apparently another multiversal constant, but when they’d mentioned Eddie, she thought maybe they were still alive. But no – and maybe that was why she was engaged to Mick on this earth. Frost had moved on, and maybe found a man who was a little harder to kill, a less heroic maybe, but she was willing to give that up for someone who wasn’t going to die on her.

“Don’t worry,” he whispered in her ear and she shuddered at his hot breath – did he always run as hot as he felt or was that just her? – and continued, “You gave Thawne a bad case of hypothermia for that, and Snart didn’t try t’stop you that time.”

She raised an eyebrow and he explained, “You tend to have a frigid temper – you’ve got a hairline trigger, doll. Grief makes you go nuclear.”

“And that’s why my doppelganger is chasing dead leads through Keystone instead of facing the Reverse Flash at Star Labs?” she asked.

Iris flashed her a grin – she sweared her mind made that pun unintentionally – and said thoughtfully, “You know, we never did have a name for Thawne. I think I’ll take that one from him. The _Reverse Flash –_ I could get behind that.”

Caitlin really needed to get back to her own earth, if only to tell Barry that Iris was the slightest bit unstable, if that maniac smile told her anything. And she really needed to stop spilling facts about her earth, because they seemed to be taking them as new cues for their own.

xx

Caitlin, Mick and Iris only had one job to do in the plan, and that was to be a distraction. She was supposed to turn every guard she came across into a frozen popsicle, and Mick was supposed to burn anything outside the lab to draw said guards out. Iris – well, she wasn’t exactly sure what Iris did, because she might dress like a speedster but she wasn’t a meta.

It wasn’t until they were practically dumped out of the van and Wally sped away to their previously-approved meeting space that she realized what exactly Iris’s spot in this fight was, and it wasn’t to stand there and look pretty.

That lightning Hartley had gotten from Mardon did more than give her the image of a speedster. It was like she could control it with the suit’s mechanics, enough to shatter the glass of the many, many windows outside the building, drawing Eobard out from the highest point, probably the Cortex if Leonard’s calculations were correct.

Mick assured her they were always correct, and that it beat out the puns in the most irritating part about the man. Duly noted.

The speedster, still clad in Harrison Wells’ face and the yellow suit of which Caitlin was grateful, mirrored the maniacal grin that had been on Iris’s face minutes ago. “Flash,” he greeted. “You’re not the Barry Allen I killed. Interesting.”

“I like to keep people guessing.” She shot back, “Catch me if you can, you knockoff.”

She could hear Hartley’s voice in the comm Lisa had given her echo back, “That’s not even the right tri-polymer. If anyone is a bad BDSM rip-off, it wasn’t Allen,” before Iris and Eobard were gone. Caitlin gasped.

“I thought she wasn’t a meta!” she exclaimed. It sure looked different from where she was standing on the street.

“Actually,” Hartley corrected from her ear again, “I’ll have you know Cisquito and I were working on tech to enhance Shawna’s powers. It’s could improve, mostly from his end, but it’ll keep Iris from being killed – for the time being.”

“You better hope she doesn’t die, Piper.” Leonard threated, his voice coming through her other ear before the line went silent. She looked wide-eyed at Mick, who just shrugged and the whirl of his heat gun interrupted her train of thought.

Taking a deep breath, she rubbed her hands together and faced the front of Star Labs. She’d feel worse if the guards she’d be freezing weren’t running the equivalent of a petting zoo of metas in her pipeline, but at least the cuffs wouldn’t get cold enough to kill them.

It was almost a shame, and she tried to tune out the voice in her head that sounded eerily like Killer Frost, and started to freeze the guards who ran out the doors.

“A hero in your earth?” Mick scoffed after she’d iced the guard from before, the one that had been with Hartley, with a vengeance she’d only ever felt after the Jay-Is-Zoom revelation. “Somehow I don’t see it. You’ve got a talent f’this.”

“Compliment her another time! We’ve got metas to break out!” Shawna interrupted from behind them, grabbing Caitlin by her shirt collar and Mick by a belt buckle and depositing them in front of the cortex. She laughed at their dazed expressions. “You’ll get used to it, trust me. Just like a hangover, missing memories and all.”

Caitlin never did like hangovers, but even she could agree that yes, this felt like that particularly terrible one after karaoke with Barry. She was _not_ a fan.

Shawna disappeared again, probably to grab another Rogue or two, and Caitlin led Mick back down to the Pipeline, pausing in front of Eobard’s secret room where it had been left open. They only had to use their tech twice on the way down, the second time on the stairwell where she had knocked a few men over the railing and down quite a few stories to Lisa’s waiting gold gun.

It was quite the learning experience, and if she was starting to like those cuffs, it was no one’s business but her own. Well, and maybe Hartley’s – if she argued enough, maybe he’d let her take them back with her when she left.

“Like a bar fight,” Mick growled out, burning the lock on the door before she could tap in the code. Oh well – it opened anyway, she couldn’t complain too much.

Leonard, Shawna and James were all there when they went in, the others still distracting the guards and Eobard as their part in the plan, and it wasn’t too hard to break out the metas, or for Shawna to take them back to the van.

She finally found out what that rubber chicken James had was for – like the James Jesse she knew, he was also the Trickster – and that chicken was more of a grenade than anything. It was both strange and impressive, and she was glad the Trickster she knew didn’t use those.

Leonard and Mick fought back to back, one stream of fire from the gun, the other ice stronger than what her cuffs could produce. They worked as flawlessly together as they did on her earth, keeping the guards far away from her and even scorching one that snuck up behind her. She smiled gratefully over at them.

Caitlin focused on getting the metas out of their cells, typing in the same codes so many times it barely took thought by the last one, and pulled a stumbling Cisco to her side to support his weight. He frowned up at her, eyes glazed.

“I couldn’t – I couldn’t get him back in time. Sorry, Cait,” he stuttered out. Ronnie. He was talking about how he couldn’t get Ronnie back. “I tho’t I could but couldn’t. He’s dead, Cait.”

“Don’t call me Cait, Cisco,” she reminded him fondly. “Come on, let’s get you to Shawna. You’re not in your right mind to be helping us.”

Instead of Shawna, it was Lisa who quickly took him from Caitlin, hugging him tightly to her and running her hands across the top of his head. “It’s okay sweetie,” she whispered, and Caitlin turned away, trying not to break the private moment – was the entire time really romantically involved with the Rogues here? Why does this keep happening to her? – and went back to moving the other metas.

She could hear Hartley’s flute in the distance as Shawna dropped her back off at the van, in front of an exhausted Wally West. It was done, and they were ready to leave.

xx

They were all battered, costumes torn and new scars to add to the collection on Mick’s back when they met back up at the Rogues’ Den, but no one was dead. All the metas were back.

Most of the group didn’t even let Shawna treat their wounds, instead helping the other metas back to the main floor and Leonard went right back to his speech, Iris looking tired but happy by his side, hands intertwined. Mardon had the most wounds, and Shawna helped him off to another room, while Hartley and Lisa carried Cisco down to the lab. James followed, sticking close to Hartley’s side, and then it was just Mick and Caitlin left standing there.

“Thanks for – well, for earlier with the guard,” she said, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. It was relieving to unstrap the cuffs and let the effects slip out of her hair, bringing it back to its original brown. She pulled a jacket over her front, something that Shawna had thrown at her when they’d walked back in the building, and kicked the heels off.

The feel of the warm couch was refreshing on her sore body, and helped heat her up. Those cuffs had practically turned her body to ice, and if she was going to sneak them back with her, she’d have to have her Cisco upgrade them so her core temperature didn’t keep going down.

Mick sat down beside her, grabbing her legs from where they were stretched out against the fabric, and set them down on his lap. “Ain’t never seen you brunette before,” he said with a yawn, eyes closed and head back against the cushions.

“Well, I’m not a meta, so my hair doesn’t change like that.” She explained. “I don’t even have the gene. We haven’t been able to figure out why my doppelganger has it, but I don’t, and now on two earths?”

“Maybe you do have it and you don’t know,” he countered. One eye opened to stare down at her, and she shifted under his heavy gaze. “Here, there have been kids born with the gene.”

She matched his look with one of excitement. “Really?” she asked, “Can I meet one of them? I don’t think we’ve had meta kids yet, but –”

Mick chuckled at her reaction, and squeezed her leg to stop her babbling. “’m sure they exist on your earth too, sweetheart. What I really wanna know is why you look so nervous around me.”

“I’ve only ever heard you talk in grunts and sentences horrible enough to send an English teacher to an early grave and resurrect them again,” she deadpanned. “That could be one of the reasons. You act nothing like the Mick Rory I know.”

“There’s a reason for that,” he said cryptically. “Just a thing me and Lenny thought up. Same tactic we use on potential Rogues, that way they know he’s the boss and I’m the muscle, and I can weed ‘em out.”

She sat up quickly and narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you telling me,” she started slowly, “that you just pretend to be dumb and violent? Hartley said there wasn’t any role reversal here.”

“An’ there’s not. But first impressions have weight and no one tends to look past ‘em. I’m just smarter than I look,” he echoed Hartley’s words. “You didn’t think Lenny planned _all_ those prison breaks by himself, did you? There’s a reason when he left me in that burning building I came out alive, and it wasn’t some luck, Cait.”

“You know you strapped me to a bomb, right?” she brought up again.

“We weren’t gonna hurt you. Snart just wanted to show off for the kid, and you and Cisco were ins. No hard feelings, I mean, Barry forgave us.” He said with a shrug. “Still, for me it’s been more than nine years since. You let go of that pretty easily here.”

“Maybe because here, I’m a criminal too?”

“Ah,” he corrected with a smile. “Not criminals, more like antiheroes. Lawful evil, chaotic good and all that. It’s not fun to be completely evil, and I ain’t ever gonna be morally good. I like fire too much for that t’happen.”

She paused for a minute, once again surprised to realize she didn’t quite mind that. “You know, maybe that’s not too much of a bad thing,” she said lowly, and leaned closer to him. There was still some kissing she needed to test from earlier, and there hadn’t been a chance earlier. Of course, what was the saying?

No better time than the present.

This time, she was the first to press their lips together and slide over into his lap. When he didn’t respond quickly enough for her liking, she moved her way down from his mouth, down his jaw, neck, _shoulder blade_ – and there was the low groan she was waiting for.

So maybe she didn’t have the experience of too many boyfriends – well, _lovers_ in Jay’s case, they never got much farther than a few nights at the lab and a particularly insane devotion on his part she would happily give away if it meant he wouldn’t kidnap her again – but she didn’t need that experience. Ronnie and Jay taught her enough themselves.

She grabbed at his shoulders, one hand braced on the couch behind them, and sucked at the spot where his neck met his shoulder, working hard to make the dark marks Ronnie had always liked stick, right beside a particularly nasty scar. When he pulled her face back up to his lips again, she nipped like Jay taught her to, and pulled lightly on his mouth with her teeth, grinding down into his lap as she did so.

“Doll,” he groaned hoarsely into her mouth. “not that I’m not enjoying this, but don’t we need to be getting you back home?”

She hummed against his body. “Not yet,” she whispered and moved to capture his lips again. “Shut up, Heatwave.”

There was a cough from behind them, and both Caitlin and Mick groaned in annoyance. She pulled away and glared over at Leonard, who was studying them with the utmost amusement. If there was ever a time she wanted to punch that gloating face, no matter the lack of strength she had, more than during the bomb incident, it was at that moment.

“You heard Mick,” he said mock-innocently. “We’ve got a way to get you back home.”

She placed one last kiss on Mick’s lips, letting her fingers linger on his neck, before moving up from the couch and over to the stairwell where James was whistling lowly.

“I hate you all, I hope you know that,” she heard Mick mutter as she walked up the stairs. “I wasn’t serious about getting up, and I know you at least know _that_. Don’t be such an asshole just ‘cause Iris is making you sleep on the couch.” He paused. “West! Come get your arm candy, he won’t stop beatin’ on me.”

“You better not be talking about me!” Wally yelled from the top of the stairs. He shook his head at Caitlin as she walked by. “My arm candy is sane, okay man, at least saner than you two!”

“You probably deserved it, Mick!” Iris called from somewhere behind her, and Caitlin could hear James laughing from the bottom of the stairs. “And excuse you, little brother, no one is completely sane in this bar. Case in point, everyone in this room.”

There was a collective “Hey!” from downstairs, and it almost made Caitlin forget she was annoyed in exchange for how ridiculous the whole thing was.


	3. Chapter Three

**FIVE DAYS LATER:**

“And you are completely sure this will get me to the right earth?” she asked Hartley skeptically. The large contraption in front of her was nothing more than a large metal box with no sides, and it had taken all of four days for them to construct, no sleep, and the only meals they’d ate were the ones Shawna brought down for them.

Though, in Hartley’s defense, he’d been waiting for Cisco to heal enough to stop coughing when he talked, claiming it was an irritating sound and he couldn’t work with the man if he coughed every point five seconds.

Yeah, she wasn’t the only one who saw through that excuse.

“We just have to find the right frequency of your earth,” he explained, gesturing to a dial on the side she hadn’t even noticed he’d installed there – probably during one of the times Mick dragged her away from it for food. She couldn’t resist his pasta. In fact, she was going to make the one on her earth make it for her too, even if she would have to convince Barry to hold him hostage for it. “It should be the only other breach still open.”

“And if it’s not?” she asked.

Iris rested her elbow on Caitlin’s shoulder and grinned down at her. “Guess you and I’ll be stuck wherever it lands us then.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Leonard growled from somewhere behind them, and she just rolled her eyes at him, and focused on Iris’s guilty look.

Caitlin raised an eyebrow at her. “What do you mean, _you and I?_ You’re not going back with me, Iris. It’s a one-way trip,” she looked accusingly over at Hartley. “It’s a one-way trip, isn’t it? That’s what you said yesterday.”

He corrected begrudgingly, “Actually, Iris will have a small window of time to jump back through before she’s stuck on your earth. It’ll test the suit’s capabilities, but it should be able to withstand such a jump. After all, the Flash time-travelled enough in the thing before he died – it held up over that.”

“Actually,” James added unhelpfully, “the first three times he time-jumped, all he came back in was the cowl.”

“This is not the time!” Hartley hissed at him, his lip curled down in distaste. It seemed to be the default look he had every time he looked at James. “The first time was your fault, _actually,_ returning with him like some kind of hobo.”

“I was a circus performer, not a hobo, Hart!” he argued back.

Caitlin, growing a bit used to their constant arguing that normally turned into disappearing to god-knows-where, turned away from them and over to the rest of the group by the door. They had built the contraption down in the lab, but it had been brought up to the main room for the sake of space. Cisco was handing money over to Lisa, probably over a bet they had before he’d been captured, and she rolled her eyes.

“Thank you guys,” she started, smiling over at Leonard, who was reclining against the wall. “Without you, I’m not sure I would have been able to find a way back – and that sounds so strange, me having to thank the Rogues.”

“Kept me from having to babysit the metas,” Mardon grumbled from the back. His arms were crossed tight, and Shawna elbowed his side with narrowed eyes. “What? She’s not Frost. I don’t know what I’m supposed to say.”

Leonard just nodded at her as an answer, and then down at the cuffs, still on her wrist. “Stealing those for yourself, Snow? That’s cold.”

“You’re not very subtle,” Lisa added.

“I wasn’t trying to be,” she replied. “It’s not like you have any use for them, and it would freak Barry and Cisco out if I suddenly returned with ‘powers’.” She paused and looked back at Leonard. “You could always say I owe you one if it makes you feel better.”

“Of course it will,” Mick said from behind her. She leaned back into his chest when his arms came up around her. “Hart says it’s about time to go.”

She sighed, and reluctantly pulled out of his arms – they were always so warm, and she was always so cold, and she wasn’t looking forward to leaving the human heat lamp he was – and walked back over to Hartley and Iris. James had left the room as she started moving, and all she felt before he disappeared was a soft tap on her shoulder.

For as crazy as he was, she might actually miss him – though she wasn’t going to miss the loud arguments when she was trying to sleep.

“How exactly is this going to work?” she asked, and Iris looked away from her. “Iris, how are you going to get back? I’m sealing the breach as soon as possible. There won’t be time for you to get back. You aren’t a meta.”

She shrugged sheepishly. “Well,” she replied. “Cisco modified the suit a little bit more. The velocity won’t affect me of course, but it can give a burst of energy to the suit’s mechanics so I can get out fast enough. It’ll almost be like I’m a speedster too.”

“That’s a huge risk!” Caitlin exclaimed. She started to shake her head, because there was no way she was going to risk the safety of her friend on any earth, before Hartley started to count down and Iris had an iron grip on her arm. Caitlin barely had time to look back at the Rogues before he hit zero and the disorienting trip through the breach started.

She didn’t even attempt to look at the various scenes passing them. It wasn’t like how Barry described his time-jumps. No, these were other earths they were passing by, all on different frequencies, and there was no chance she was going to get stuck in one just because she lingered too long.

Caitlin squeezed her eyes shut when Iris’s grip loosened, and they started to trip into one of the scenes. If Shawna transporting them had given her the same feeling as a hangover, this was like three different trips to the karaoke bar in one week and the feelings were just starting to catch up to her again. There was a reason she didn’t like to drink, and this was it.

When they finally stopped moving, she opened her eyes to see a spinning Star Labs and a very familiar picture of Cisco and Barry arguing, in the same clothes she remembered them wearing when she’d left. She had never felt so grateful to see that red Flash suit more than she had when she was strapped to that bomb.

“Is this the right earth?” Iris whispered in her ear, and Caitlin blinked, trying to make her head stop spinning long enough to nod. She was never crossing breaches again if she had a say in it – and she was going to make _sure_ she’d have a say in it.

“Yeah,” she finally managed to spit out, and let go of Iris for a steadiness of the desk. It was nice to feel the surface without ten years’ worth of dust and grime on it. “You guys can stop trying to find a way to get me back,” she spoke up. “I’m already here.”

Barry turned around fast enough she could barely track it, and before she could blink, he was spinning her around in a tight hug. “You’ve been gone all day! What happened?”

So time really was slower – or was it faster on Earth number whatever they were calling it? – on her own earth.

“For me, it’s been almost a week,” she replied. “Barry, put me down. Barry!”

He let go with a quick “sorry, sorry!” and she tried to blink away the disorienting feeling again. It was official. She hated all things movement, and that bed Cisco had put in down the hall was sounding more and more welcoming by the passing seconds. “Wait, for real?” he asked.

“Actually it was a full seven days,” Iris corrected awkwardly, and both Cisco and Barry turned to look wide-eyed at her. “I should probably go. The time window is closing, I just –” She stopped quickly, and rubbed her hands on the side of her suit – a _nd_ Caitlin would definitely have to explain that after her nap, if she ever got one.

“I get it,” Caitlin said, and Iris looked over at her gratefully. “But really, if you don’t go, I’ll have to explain the angry meta trying to pull you back, and I’d really just like to sleep for a few hours.” Explaining Snart, especially a Snart who would have the same haunted look in his eyes when he saw Barry as Iris currently did, would do nothing but add more for her to explain.

Iris smirked, probably at the thought of Leonard trying to drag her back, and then disappeared from the room, the suit’s trail of yellow lightning the only sign she was ever there.

“Did anyone else think she was hot? Don’t tell me I’m the only one,” Cisco started, and Caitlin rolled her eyes. “Come on Barry, you at least gotta admit it!”

xx

Caitlin never did get to take a nap before she had to explain. It only took two minutes of her recalling the events before Cisco dubbed it _earth-14_ and Barry complained about how that didn’t even make sense, and about ten minutes into the explanation, Iris and Joe arrived in the cortex and she had to start over from the beginning. She refused to even wait for Martin or Jax to get there. She was not retelling the story again.

She left out most of the personal details of the story the second time around, not that she really covered them the first time, and just revealed the bare minimum. After all, she didn’t really want to tell Joe that both of his kids had been dating a criminal, much less the same one.

“I don’t believe that,” Joe said skeptically when she was done.

She laughed lightly and replied, “I wouldn’t either. I barely believed that I was engaged to Mick Rory, but it did have some similarities there.”

“No,” Cisco said after a moment, “I could believe that. I mean, Heatwave is kinda your type. You liked Jay. At least Heatwave’s a step up.” She was confused to see all three of them nodded along to his words.

“Okay, I do _not_ have a thing for evil!” she protested. “Jay – Zoom was a mistake, and we thought he was a hero! Anyway, Mick Rory is not my type!” Putting past the part where she enjoyed the times alone with the pyromaniac, because really, no one needed to know that. It was irrelevant to the situation, no matter how much she liked kissing him.

Cisco rebutted with a smug smile, “Ronnie was on fire, and you loved him. Jay was morally questionable even before he turned out to be Zoom and completely evil, and you loved him. Fire is Rory’s compulsion, and he is more than morally questionable on a good day, therefor he is completely your type.”

“No, he – okay, but at one point I had a thing for Barry,” and why did only the speedster look confused at those words, “and he is neither of those. How do you explain that?” she shot back triumphantly.

“Easy. Barry has a very attractive body,” Cisco yelped at Barry’s wounded look, “from an objective standpoint, jeez, don’t give me the puppy-dog eyes. You know I can’t handle them! Heatwave – again, objectively! – is attractive in that _I’m going to murder you_ kinda way, and is more interested in fire than he is in committing crimes. Neutral, and his earth-14 doppelganger sounds like a reluctant hero at least. There. There is your logic.”

Iris sighed at Barry’s face. “Barry, the proud look isn’t any better. You’re hot, but lightning gave you abs. Not hard work, so stop smiling like that.”

Joe, looking more than reluctant for having to listen to the entire conversation, added, “So what you’re saying is my daughter is a criminal?”

“Yes, and a good one. She kept Eobard away from the rest of us when we broke into Star Labs,” Caitlin replied, and before Joe could open his mouth to complain, she quickly finished, “Don’t worry, they weren’t going to let her get killed. Leonard had a backup plan.”

Iris preened from across the room at Caitlin’s words.

Barry grinned triumphantly. “I knew there was good in him!” he exclaimed cheerfully, and danced around the desk before coming to a stop in front of Iris again and danced around her. She just shook her head fondly, and Caitlin almost felt bad for ruining the moment. Almost.

But – he was half the reason she was stuck on earth-14 in the first place, and really, he needed to learn to listen to her. She didn’t just talk to hear her own voice. She was the voice of reason – there was a reason he was still alive, and it _wasn’t Cisco._

“Even on Earth-14 you told him that, and when you died, Iris started telling him that. Apparently it kick-started your relationship together? At least that’s what he told me.”

Barry stopped dancing to choke on thin air, and Iris burst out laughing. Joe’s right eye just twitched, and she tried not to look at him too long.

“Actually, that was one of the most interesting parts of the trip,” she said, trying not to smile too wide at Barry’s fish-out-of-water look. “I was engaged to Mick Rory, which, Cisco don’t laugh at me, you were with Lisa Snart – while Barry, Iris and Leonard were part of a complicated triad that somehow didn’t fully form until Barry was killed by Eobard.”

“Dude. Lisa Snart?” Cisco asked excitedly. “I knew she liked me!” He held out his fist to Barry who just ignored him.

“My children were dating a known criminal?” Joe demanded, eerily calm, and she almost regretted saying that because this was not a discussion she wanted to have with Joe West. Again, almost. It was worth it listening to Barry try to make excuses about how he didn’t constantly flirt with his nemesis during every battle.

Iris, on the other hand, just shrugged when Joe looked at her. “For someone named Captain Cold, he is pretty hot. I would date him in a heartbeat,” she said nonchalantly.

“On that note,” Caitlin said with a laugh. “I’m going to go take a nap.”

xx

The whole trip was worth it again when she was officially dating – well, mostly sleeping – with Mick Rory, and she finally got to put those cuffs she’d stolen to good use. No, not with him, though she was considering it, but with Cisco.

She’d never seen him jump so high when she snuck up on him. The same “I’ve always hated the name Caitlin” line didn’t work too well until she flicked her wrist and coated his Vibe glasses with ice. It was more than worth it to watch him run upstairs to yell at Barry.

And it was more than worth it to be able to lean back into Mick’s arms – he ran the same hot temperature on both earths, interesting – and laugh about it with someone who wouldn’t run screaming if she acted a little colder than usual, because he was more than used to the cold.

(It was also worth it to see Leonard Snart come stomping into the cortex looking for his partner and instead getting an armful of Barry and Iris, who’d long decided to follow in their doppelgängers’ footsteps when it came to the criminal.)


	4. Alternate Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone wanted to read the alternate chapter three, I wrote it halfway and then changed it, but there were some parts I wanted but couldn't keep. Enjoy!
> 
> (The changes start after Cailtin returns to Earth-1. You can skip to there if you want)

**FIVE DAYS LATER:**

                “And you are completely sure this will get me to the right earth?” she asked Hartley skeptically. The large contraption in front of her was nothing more than a large metal box with no sides, and it had taken all of four days for them to construct, no sleep, and the only meals they’d ate were the ones Shawna brought down for them.

Though, in Hartley’s defense, he’d been waiting for Cisco to heal enough to stop coughing when he talked, claiming it was an irritating sound and he couldn’t work with the man if he coughed every point five seconds.

                Yeah, she wasn’t the only one who saw through that excuse.

                “We just have to find the right frequency of your earth,” he explained, gesturing to a dial on the side she hadn’t even noticed he’d installed there – probably during one of the times Mick dragged her away from it for food. She couldn’t resist his pasta. In fact, she was going to make the one on her earth make it for her too, even if she would have to convince Barry to hold him hostage for it. “It should be the only other breach still open.”

                “And if it’s not?” she asked.

                Iris rested her elbow on Caitlin’s shoulder and grinned down at her. “Guess you and I’ll be stuck wherever it lands us then.”

                “That’s not going to happen,” Leonard growled from somewhere behind them, and she just rolled her eyes at him, and focused on Iris’s guilty look.

                Caitlin raised an eyebrow at her. “What do you mean, _you and I?_ You’re not going back with me, Iris. It’s a one-way trip,” she looked accusingly over at Hartley. “It’s a one-way trip, isn’t it? That’s what you said yesterday.”

                He corrected begrudgingly, “Actually, Iris will have a small window of time to jump back through before she’s stuck on your earth. It’ll test the suit’s capabilities, but it should be able to withstand such a jump. After all, the Flash time-travelled enough in the thing before he died – it held up over that.”

                “Actually,” James added unhelpfully, “the first three times he time-jumped, all he came back in was the cowl.”

                “This is not the time!” Hartley hissed at him, his lip curled down in distaste. It seemed to be the default look he had every time he looked at James. “The first time was your fault, _actually,_ returning with him like some kind of hobo.”

                “I was a circus performer, not a hobo, Hart!” he argued back.

                Caitlin, growing a bit used to their constant arguing that normally turned into disappearing to god-knows-where, turned away from them and over to the rest of the group by the door. They had built the contraption down in the lab, but it had been brought up to the main room for the sake of space. Cisco was handing money over to Lisa, probably over a bet they had before he’d been captured, and she rolled her eyes.

                “Thank you guys,” she started, smiling over at Leonard, who was reclining against the wall. “Without you, I’m not sure I would have been able to find a way back – and that sounds so strange, me having to thank the Rogues.”

                “Kept me from having to babysit the metas,” Mardon grumbled from the back. His arms were crossed tight, and Shawna elbowed his side with narrowed eyes. “What? She’s not Frost. I don’t know what I’m supposed to say.”

                Leonard just nodded at her as an answer, and then down at the cuffs, still on her wrist. “Stealing those for yourself, Snow? That’s cold.”

“You’re not very subtle,” Lisa added.

                “I wasn’t trying to be,” she replied. “It’s not like you have any use for them, and it would freak Barry and Cisco out if I suddenly returned with ‘powers’.” She paused and looked back at Leonard. “You could always say I owe you one if it makes you feel better.”

                “Of course it will,” Mick said from behind her. She leaned back into his chest when his arms came up around her. “Hart says it’s about time to go.”

                She sighed, and reluctantly pulled out of his arms – they were always so warm, and she was always so cold, and she wasn’t looking forward to leaving the human heat lamp he was – and walked back over to Hartley and Iris. James had left the room as she started moving, and all she felt before he disappeared was a soft tap on her shoulder.

                For as crazy as he was, she might actually miss him – though she wasn’t going to miss the loud arguments when she was trying to sleep.

                “How exactly is this going to work?” she asked, and Iris looked away from her. “Iris, how are you going to get back? I’m sealing the breach as soon as possible. There won’t be time for you to get back. You aren’t a meta.”

                She shrugged sheepishly. “Well,” she replied. “Cisco modified the suit a little bit more. The velocity won’t affect me of course, but it can give a burst of energy to the suit’s mechanics so I can get out fast enough. It’ll almost be like I’m a speedster too.”

                “That’s a huge risk!” Caitlin exclaimed. She started to shake her head, because there was no way she was going to risk the safety of her friend on any earth, before Hartley started to count down and Iris had an iron grip on her arm. Caitlin barely had time to look back at the Rogues before he hit zero and the disorienting trip through the breach started.

                She didn’t even attempt to look at the various scenes passing them. It wasn’t like how Barry described his time-jumps. No, these were other earths they were passing by, all on different frequencies, and there was no chance she was going to get stuck in one just because she lingered too long.

                Caitlin squeezed her eyes shut when Iris’s grip loosened, and they started to trip into one of the scenes. If Shawna transporting them had given her the same feeling as a hangover, this was like three different trips to the karaoke bar in one week and the feelings were just starting to catch up to her again. There was a reason she didn’t like to drink, and this was it.

                When they finally stopped moving, she opened her eyes to see a spinning Star Labs and a very familiar picture of Cisco and Barry arguing, in the same clothes she remembered them wearing when she’d left. She had never felt so grateful to see that red Flash suit more than she had when she was strapped to that bomb.

                “Is this the right earth?” Iris whispered in her ear, and Caitlin blinked, trying to make her head stop spinning long enough to nod. She was never crossing breaches again if she had a say in it – and she was going to make _sure_ she’d have a say in it.

                “Yeah,” she finally managed to spit out, and let go of Iris for a steadiness of the desk. It was nice to feel the surface without ten years’ worth of dust and grime on it. “You guys can stop trying to find a way to get me back,” she spoke up. “I’m already here.”

                Barry turned around fast enough she could barely track it, and before she could blink, he was spinning her around in a tight hug. “You’ve been gone all day! What happened?”

                So time really was slower – or was it faster on Earth number whatever they were calling it? – on her own earth.

                “For me, it’s been almost a week,” she replied. “Barry, put me down. Barry!”

                He let go with a quick “sorry, sorry!” and she tried to blink away the disorienting feeling again. It was official. She hated all things movement, and that bed Cisco had put in down the hall was sounding more and more welcoming by the passing seconds. “Wait, for real?” he asked.

                “Actually it was a full seven days,” Iris corrected awkwardly, and both Cisco and Barry turned to look wide-eyed at her. “I should probably go. The time window is closing, I just –” She stopped quickly, and rubbed her hands on the side of her suit – a _nd_ Caitlin would definitely have to explain that after her nap, if she ever got one.

                “I get it,” Caitlin said, and Iris looked over at her gratefully. “But really, if you don’t go, I’ll have to explain the angry meta trying to pull you back, and I’d really just like to sleep for a few hours.” Explaining Snart, especially a Snart who would have the same haunted look in his eyes when he saw Barry as Iris currently did, would do nothing but add more for her to explain.

                Iris smirked, probably at the thought of Leonard trying to drag her back, and then disappeared from the room, the suit’s trail of yellow lightning the only sign she was ever there.

                “Cait,” Cisco started, but she interrupted him with a raised hand.

                She promised, “Later, but right now, I really need to sleep off the motion sickness.” Raising her other hand to stop Barry who looked a minute away from rushing her home, she stumbled slowly out of the cortex and down the hall.

xx

                Sure enough, once she was well rested and able to go back to the cortex, the entire group was there waiting for her explanation. Joe, Barry, Cisco, Jax, Dr. Stein and even Iris. Joe had his gun in hand, probably waiting for someone else to just randomly show up, and she hoped if there was, it wouldn’t be Mark, or they’d have an entirely different problem on their hands.

                Two Weather Wizard’s out for revenge against Joe would never be anything but a nightmare in her opinion. One was bad enough.

                “What exactly happened?” Joe sighed when he saw her reenter the cortex. “I work overtime for one day, and all of a sudden you were pulled into a breach, my kids are freaking out and Cisco refuses to open the door. It was one day!”

                Cisco didn’t even look at her face before explaining, “I kinda called Hartley Rathaway because we didn’t know what to do and he said he’d come _fix our mess_ and now I don’t exactly want to let him in.”

                “Actually, it was more of a ‘ _come fix your mess because Cisquito is incapable of even rudimentary science without my presence so I’ll come to gloat over the stupidest thing since the 2016 election’_ kinda thing,” Barry quoted, before rubbing the back of his neck nervously at Cisco’s wounded look. “Sorry.”

                “While you were trying to get me back, I was on another earth – and not earth-2, so I told you it wouldn’t work! – and yes, for me, I was gone seven days. Seven days on an earth where metahumans are hunted down by the government, my doppelganger was still Killer Frost, and Barry lost his fight with Eobard.” She explained.

                “And Iris?” Barry asked.

                “What about me?” Iris demanded slowly. “How do I even play into this?”

                Caitlin sighed. “When I got back a few hours ago, it was your doppelganger who brought me back. On this earth,” she was interrupted by Cisco’s loud cheer of _Dude, Earth-14_ and Joe’s slow _that doesn’t even make sense, Cisco,_ “Barry was killed, and your doppelganger started wearing the version of his suit he was wearing at the time. I might have accidentally given her the inspiration for the name Reverse Flash, by the way.”

                “Then what’s Eobard?” Joe asked.

                “ _I’m dead?”_ Barry exclaimed.

                “My doppelganger is a speedster?” Iris asked disbelievingly.

                Caitlin corrected them, “No, she wasn’t a meta, but Hartley and Cisco made some improvements to the suit to make it look like she was. Yes, Barry, your doppelganger was dead, Cisco’s was imprisoned in the pipeline and Eobard was just called Eobard but still in Harrison Well’s body. As far as I know, the timeline was the same up until Eobard won their fight and turned the government against metas.”

                “And the metas were imprisoned under his command?” Dr. Stein asked. “Fascinating.”

                “Wait, if this reverse Iris brought you back, but Barry and Cisco weren’t able to help you, but she didn’t have speed, who exactly helped you get back?” Jax asked.

                And that was the part of the story she wasn’t looking forward to telling, so she recapped with a quick, “Hartley found me at Star Labs, took me to the Rogues, and they sent me back home after we rescued Cisco.”

                “But Cisco was in the pipeline,” Iris said slowly. Caitlin didn’t like the expression on her face. It was the exact same knowing smirk she’d shown on the newly dubbed Earth-14. “Were you part of a prison break?”

                The cortex erupted in chaos, and she winced.

                “That’s a funny story,” she said sheepishly. “They were breaking metas out, and wouldn’t have time to get me back in under two weeks, so I helped them break in? I mean, the weirdest part was how I was engaged to Mick Rory honestly – or maybe how Snart was a meta. I’m not exactly sure. There were a lot of weird parts.”

xx

                It wasn’t until halfway through her explanation that the fact she had been engaged to Mick Rory, even the earth-14 doppelganger version of him, started to catch up to her, and Cisco was the first to notice her near-hysterical meltdown.

                “Cisco, I was engaged to Mick Rory. Mick. Rory. _Heatwave!_ He strapped me to a bomb, and I kissed him. Multiple times. _I think I’m having a meltdown, Cisco!_ Don’t laugh at me, you were with Lisa Snart! You have no room to judge me.”

                “Lisa Snart? Really?” he asked, and she tried to ignore the obvious fist-pump he tried to give Barry, who just shook his head at them. “Dude, not cool.”

                “You were also mostly unconscious, and Iris was in a polyamorous relationship with Leonard Snart and a dead Barry, but – yes.”

"My kids were in a what now with a known murderer?" 

**Author's Note:**

> Multi-chapter fic, but the next chapters are done and will come this week, and yes I know, this is super late for Killerwave week.


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